My "Big Boy"

My little baby is growing up. Of course, he’d be the first to tell you that he is not my baby. He is a big boy. It seems like each week he is changing and growing. Just a couple of weeks ago, “thirteen” and “thirty” somehow sounded like a variation of “fourteen” and “forty”. But, he’s figured it out and sounds more like the correct number.


He pretty much knows how everyone is related in our family. He knows that his grandparents are our parents. He knows that his aunts are our sisters. He did say something funny yesterday to my sister regarding family relationships.

Evan and I (it used to be for convenience sake) get our haircut at the same time and the same place. Since it is a few minutes from my parents’ house, they usually watch Nicholas. Sometimes we don’t even have to come back right away. However, this past week, our appointment fell on a time where they couldn’t watch him, so we had to bring him with us. This was the first time, other than his own appointments, that he had been there in long time. I’m happy to report that he did great!

Well, we were talking to my sister about this the next day.

Amy: I heard you went to Mommy and Daddy’s haircut and you were a good listener.

Nicholas: Yeah. I had to go because your parents couldn’t watch me.

Not “Nana and Poppy”, but “your parents”. Amy and I could barely keep it together.



Nicholas is really starting to read. I can hardly believe it myself. I had taught him sight words for the last year. I didn’t review them every day and I didn’t put much pressure on him. I tried to make it as fun as possible. Well, we borrowed Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends from the library. It is filled with many of his sight words. It starts out very basic and expands on each chapter. He is doing so well! It is a huge book and we are about halfway through. I’m probably going to renew it so we can spend more time on it. Nicholas asks to read some of it every day. It’s not a chore for him either. He’s really enjoying himself. I’m the one who paces him and only lets him read one or two stories at a time. It makes me even more excited for the coming school year.



Nicholas is moving up to the school-aged kids’ classes at church in a week. I’m really excited for him. But, yesterday I decided to pretend like I was sad about it. I thought Nicholas knew I was joking, but here’s what happened:

Me: My little baby is growing up. He’s not a sprout anymore. (Fake crying sound)

Nicholas: (gently putting his arm around me). It is okay, Mommy. I’ll still be your son. I’m just going to Tree Climbers. It is okay.


He just brought a smile to my face. Of course, once he realized I was joking around, I had to pretend to cry a few times more.



Yesterday night, I was sitting by myself downstairs thinking about how blessed I am to have Nicholas. Nicholas is such a wonderful boy. His smile brightens up a lot of people’s days (as I have been told). He’s not perfect, but I can already see God at work in his heart. Too often I think mothers (myself included) get bogged down with all the negative behavior. I really am trying to focus on the positives. I see all my hard work and training paying off.

Yesterday, there was a dog at the pet store that they had out of its cage. Nicholas asked the employee, “Is it okay if I pet your dog?” She seemed pleasantly surprised that he had asked and thanked him for doing so.

At church last week, I saw the physical conflict in him and his sinful nature. A lot of kids run around at church. I don’t think that is the place to run. I told Nicholas that he needed to walk and also there is no wrestling at church. A bunch of kids were getting riled up and Nicholas knew what he was told to do, but he wanted so bad to run around. I was so proud of him for practicing self-control even though it was obviously not easy for him.

In closing, I’m not writing this blog to brag on my son, but I am proud of him. If he ever reads this blog in the future, I want him to see how much I valued him. I don’t want him to constantly hear about any bad behavior. I will never label Nicholas “a bad boy”. He has bad behavior at times or makes bad decisions, but so do all of us. I just want him to know that he is treasured in this family and by God . This blog is not only for others to read, but is a record for me and for my family as well.

My most recent picture of Nicholas